Liza Sachs likes to say that everyone who works at Counselor Top 40 distributor Kaeser & Blair (K&B, asi/238600) has always worked at Kaeser & Blair. It’s a little bit of a joke – Sachs herself has been chief revenue officer at the family-owned company for about four years – but it’s also … not.

“The people that are here are here for the long term, and I think everyone is here for the better of the company,” says Sachs.

Rebecca Seale, a lead on the strategic-level support team, is just one example, having spent more than three decades of her career bouncing around to various departments in the K&B office. In her management position now, she’s focused on making sure everyone on her team feels able to share their thoughts – and she’s of the belief that the overall office culture has never been better.

Kaeser & Blair (asi/238600) celebrates its top sales reps and support staff every year with a fun team trip

Family ownership has defined the distributor’s 132-year history. (In 2023, fourth-generation leaders Mitch and Brad Kaeser became co-CEOs.) While it sounds like a cliché to say that a family-owned business treats people like family, Joanne Perry, director of process improvement, says it’s the truth. And she would know; recently returning to the K&B team after working elsewhere across the promo industry, Perry was struck by how much positive change she’s noticed.

Inside Sales Support Specialist Emily Renshaw, for example, says she’s always appreciated that when K&B leadership says they have an “open-door policy,” they actually mean it, but that doesn’t extend to micromanagement in everyday job tasks.

“We’re given a lot of responsibility to make decisions that are knowledge-based or experience-based,” she says. “It’s nice to know that there’s confidence in us to use our common sense and handle those kinds of things.”

The office’s annual Christmas luncheon, prepped by the Party Planning Committee, is one of the events K&B staff look forward to the most.

There are also the anonymous pulse surveys meant to check in with employees on how their jobs are really going. There’s the culture of giving back, whether that’s the “dog squad” of employees who have adopted the local animal shelter for volunteering or support for employees facing family challenges. On the onboarding side, Carol Higgins, human resources manager, has introduced a “get to know the employee” form that managers use to introduce new hires – and always sends fully remote workers a gift card to grab lunch or coffee when they miss out on Party Planning Committee events at the office.

“This is the job that I wish I had a long time ago,” Higgins says. “I’ve worked for family-owned companies before, but there’s something different about working for the Kaesers.”